The Dallas Mavericks had the basketball flying around the court Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls the way some folks fly down the
Dallas North Tollway at night.
It was easy breezy, and the results had the Mavs recording a season-high 33 assists during their 119-99 stampede of the Bulls.
“I thought the group did a great job early with multiple guys touching it,” coach Jason Kidd said following Thursday’s practice session. “When you talk about Luka (Dončić) being able to penetrate, (and) being able to find open guys.
“Guys turned down shots to get better shots. I thought for four quarters guys were making a conscious effort of getting other’s attention.”
Dončić led the assist parade for the Mavs against the Bulls with 13. Six other players picked up at least two assists each, including four by guard Spencer Dinwiddie and three from center Dwight Powell.
“Coach said it should never be a bad shot,” forward Naji Marshall said. “I think (Wednesday) night we were a testimony of that.
“There’s so much talent, so many good players, space, opportunity, open guys all over the floor. So, we were able to share the ball.”
Guard Kyrie Irving described what the Mavs accomplished against the Bulls – with the ball effectively moving around the court — as a beautiful brand of basketball.
“I think when you talk about makes or misses, are we getting high quality shots – makes or misses?,” Kidd rhetorically asked. “And defensively, being able to rebound and guard.
“I thought (Wednesday) night was a step toward being able to play that style of beautiful basketball that Kai’s talking about.”
Irving converted his first six shots, against the Suns, then just concentrated on getting better looks at the basket for his teammates.
“There’s so much talent on this team that. . .for him to be selfless like that, the sky’s the limit for us,” Marshall said. “He decided to keep going and keep learning and keep getting better with it.”
In a way, Marshall believes the Mavs may have revealed something about themselves during their undressing of the Bulls.
“We’re telling on ourselves,” he said. “We see what we’re capable of.
“I feel like we’re just locked in and just are all ready to compete and bring that energy. We’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Even the Mavs’ penchant for starting slow didn’t surface against the Bulls, who trailed, 22-9, midway through the first quarter.
‘In the first quarter we’ve had some slow starts,” Kidd said. “We’re looking at different rotations here in the first couple of weeks, and we’ll see which rotation has given us the best output to get off to a good start.”
The Mavs host Phoenix on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center, and Irving just hopes they can do to the Suns what they did to the Bulls.
“The carryover, that’s where our focus is,” Irving said. “When we have games like (the blowout of Chicago), we’re showing our potential and we’re kind of giving the answers away in terms of what we’re capable of doing.
“Right now it’s just about our consistency and trust, and our approach to the game. We’re going against these better teams in the league where we’ll obviously get up energy-wise, but that won’t be enough. We’re going to have to do the little things in order to defeat these teams. A lot of teams are carrying a lot of emotions into the game, so we just got to be ready for that.”
MAVS PROFICIENT AT PROTECTING THE BALL: Behind the exceptional ball-handling skills of Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić, the Mavs are one of the best teams in the league at protecting the basketball.
After two weeks of play, the Mavs are tied with the Boston Celtics in committing the third-fewest
turnovers in the league at 11.3 apiece per game. The Houston Rockets are Miami Heat share the top spot at 10.9 turnovers committed per game.
Coach Jason Kidd had a simple explanation as to why the Mavs’ turnover numbers are so low.
“You look at our two quarterbacks, they do a really good job of executing and being able to find the open guy,” Kidd said. “When you look at Luka and Kai, being able to have low turnovers, that puts us in a good seat of being able to get a good shot.
“And if we can make those shots, that makes it a lot better, too. But I think when you look at just taking care of the ball, that’s who we’ve been for the last four years as a team that takes care of the ball.”
Ranked second on the all-time lists with 12,091 assists, Kidd knows the importance of protecting the basketball.
“I think you value shots, you value high quality shots, and then just understanding how hard it is when you work on the defensive end to get stops that you want to be able to get a good look. And right now we’re a team that takes care of the ball and that’s important.”
BRIEFLY: Because of the success the Mavs had in reaching last season’s NBA Finals, coach Jason Kidd believes his team has a target on their backs. “I think when you go to the Finals, there’s no easy night,” Kidd said. “Everybody wants to beat you. We understand that. We’re not going to go undefeated. We just feel like we can play better in some of these losses. With that being said, we’ve got new pieces and it’s going to take some time, but we’re trending in the right direction and we understand that every night we’re going to get tested.” . . . Forward P. J. Washington (right knee sprain) and center Dereck Lively II (right shoulder sprain) will miss the game against Phoenix, while forward Maxi Kleber (right hamstring strain) is listed as doubtful. Kidd said Kleber “did some work” in Thursday’s practice.
X: @DwainPrice
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